The Ringer NBA Show - Bill Simmons on Ben Simmons, the Celtics, and Playoff Predictions. Plus, Fans Are Still Acting Stupid. | Real Ones

Episode Date: June 1, 2021

Bill Simmons joins Logan and Raja on Monday night to talk about whether Ben Simmons can carry the 76ers through without Joel Embiid (3:34), how the Bucks have transformed their reputation during their sweep of the Heat (13:41), and predictions for Tuesday night’s games (26:30). Then Logan and Raja talk about how fans in NBA stadiums are still acting stupid by antagonizing players (38:00), before Jomi Adeniran joins them to recount his trip to Palmdale after he lost a bet to Logan and Raja that the Clippers would lose Game 3 of their series against the Mavericks (49:06). Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Guests: Bill Simmons and Jomi Adeniran Associate Producer: Sasha Ashall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The NBA season is heating up and Kevin O'Connor and Chris Vernon have got you covered on the mismatch. They discuss all the news, the trends, and transactions happening around the league. They also offer their on court analysis and occasionally get into heated debates. Check out the mismatch on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. This is Logan Murdoch from the Real Ones podcast on KMEL. I'm here with Roger Bell. And we got the Mad Hooper here. Yeah, we're here with the Mad Hooper. And I think we're going to open it up for the audience to ask some questions to the

Matt Hooper? Young lady, do you have a question for the mad hooper? Yeah, this is Sasha from St. Louis, and I just have a question for the mad hooper. Like, why are you so mad? I don't get it. Like, why are you so mad? What's up, Real Ones? This is Sugar Tea from the V, and I want to tell you guys today why I'm so mad. Raja, I know you're going to feel me on this one. Today, I'm mad because I want to tell y'all why I hate my HOA. And now, for those of you guys that don't know, The HOA is your home owners association. And these are the people that when you pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a home, they have an association that want to tell me what to do with the home that I own.

Who loves their HOA? Tell me a single person in the history of home ownership who loves their HOA. I'm going to tell you who loves them, no one, because they are haters. They are haters. They make a stupid rule that make absolutely no sense. and then they enforce them not with regularity, but arbitrarily. So you got one person who's breaking the rules, but you don't say nothing at them, but you want to say something to me.

For example, with your fake-ass arbitrary rules, my HOA says I can't back my car into my parking spot. I have gotten a ticket for that before. They say you can't paint your house a certain color because you have to match in with the neighborhood, but it's like tan, white, brown. What if I want a teal door? What if I want a bright color on my sidewalk? I paid this money. Why can't I have that?

Also, why does your H.O.A. hate on your plants? Shouldn't you be trying to beautify your neighborhood? My neighbor used to come by, talk about how pretty your plants were. I got a ticket and have to get called to an H.O.A. hearing in which they tell you you're going to have a lien on your property if you don't show up because they were mad at my plants on my window still. Are you kidding me?

And then let me tell you what happened during the Pannini. my HOA wanted to make a rule, an emergency rule that said you can't have bikes, skateboards, throwing the balls, or frisbee's happening on the condominium complex grants. So what do you think that these kids are supposed to do who are locked up in these homes, 24-7, can't go to school, can't go outside, you're going to tell them they can't throw a frisbee, they can't ride their bikes. H-O-A people are haters. Miserable people who run these H-O-As who have to be just so trashed in their regular life,

that they can't do anything else well. So they want to regulate on somebody else's life and make them miserable. So I'm going to just stop. I'm ranting because I am so mad. But let me tell you, I don't know why your fees go up every year, but y'all ain't doing nothing different. But y'all still want to charge me more and more and more money every year.

HOAs, I hate you. I will never have a house again with an HOA. Y'all are some hate. What's popping? Logan Murdoch here. Jomey and a bitch, Sasha Mac on the boards. Raja Bell. Raja, we have a special guest

in the building. I think it's his first real one's appearance. No. We got. No, it's the first real one's appearance. No, you're messing it up. All right, he said his voice has already been doing. We already got it.

It's Bill Simmons in the motherfucking building. It's my second. It's my second appearance. No, it's your first appearance on the real ones. It's your first one. I rarely agree with Logan. I rarely agree and co-signed with Logan. It's definitely your first time.

It's definitely your first time. I wanted to come on just to make sure Rajah was actually awake this late and that you weren't CGIing him. But it's really him. It's like 12-10 to the East Coast time. I'm really proud of you, Rajah, you're old. I appreciate that, but I was telling them before you popped on the call, I was like four minutes to go in the game.

I'm hanging on by a thread. I was like, I'm going to make it. And then I woke up in a panic like, oh, shit, where am I? Did I miss it? And I was actually good, but was really close to not be. here. Well, that's how I felt watching basketball the last three days. We're in a rut. We're in a rut with good basketball games. I don't know what happened. I was so excited for the playoffs. And then we just like hit a rut. It was great to start the playoffs and we get like

the Knicks and the Guard and we get all these great crowds coming back in. And then like today was just Luca. Um, even like I love me and, me and Rajah love the Phoenix Suns. The Phoenix Sons have been playing really well. Love that. But today was just, yeah, yeah. I mean, the Wizards Sixers game should have been more compelling for everything that I saw, but it just wasn't compelling. What do you guys think of today's round of basketball? I'll start with Roger to wake him up. Raja, what did you think of the first, the day of basketball? In terms of quality.

Yeah, look, the Wizard Sixers game, I was at my folks' house, Memorial Day barbecue. It was just, it was like a regular season game. Like, there was nothing to that. There was nothing going on. The Memphis game, Memphis is intriguing. me because I never really felt like they were going to be Utah, but they get down 15 and then you look up and they're only down like four again, right? So it keeps me like locked in to see if they're ever going to get over the hump. I like John Morant. So that had a little bit to

it, but generally speaking, like no real fireworks today for me. Well, the big story coming at it today is Embed couldn't even make it four games. Is everything hurt? This was the reason I was scared to pick Philly to win the East because it's like, do I trust M.B. to be able to play three straight rounds. And he made it, what, three games, one quarter and he went down. So now that hangs over the whole series and the rest of the playoffs for them. That was one of those games when you get the feeling down the stretch after M.B. is out.

You get, you want, I guess conventional wisdom, you want the Sixers to win that game just so they can get, just get out of the series and figure it out, get a weekend. He has an MRI, I think on Tuesday or something like that. but I, how does this change the trajectory of the Eastern Conference in your eyes, Bill? If at all. I didn't like what I saw from Simmons tonight. Because when Embedd goes out like that, then, you know, if Simmons has what I thought he had and why I thought Houston was crazy not to trade, hardened for him over the crappy package they took from the Nets, I thought Embed was going to go out.

And then the second half, Simmons was going to be like, watch this. I'm going to reinvent what we look at. like for this half, I'm going to be, you know, like a point, a point five, basically. And I'm just going to dominate on both ends and I'm going to be awesome. And he just really wasn't. And he missed the free throws were a real problem. And, you know, you look at Milwaukee has a little bit of the same issue with Janice and his free throws.

And then you watch Brooklyn and they don't miss a free throw ever. And, you know, and I just wonder, like, is the East going to be as simple as just it's going to come down to free throws in two clutch games like that? But the Simmons thing, I, Raja, is my esteem just too high for him? I feel like I'm constantly disappointed by him.

You could be fractionally high on Ben Simmons. I mean, but there's so much talent. It just oozes, you know, he does things and you're like, man, yes,

that should be sustainable. Like, if he could capture that, then he's what you think he should be. I don't think he's wired like that, though. I don't, I mean, in today's scenario,

I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and say, like, you know, really quickly, and they've been playing a certain way all year, right? So it's not the easiest thing than necessarily clicking it half if that's not your nature and say, all right, it's mine now. Now, Dion Waiters, he's built like that. Like, it's mine now. I'm good. I'm ready to, I've been waiting for this. I don't think Ben Simmons is really that kind of guy. So I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but they're just certain, look, this is a, this is a make buckets league.

I mean, it's a, you have to make buckets. You have to be able to create. You have to be able to make buckets. And you have to be willing to shoot. I mean, I'm not even saying making. I said this for years. You got to be willing to shoot the ball so that people will play you honest. And if you won't, it really puts a ceiling or a regulator on what you could be. I think the biggest thing with that situation is when you have two stars like that, we've seen, there's presidents when a one star gets injured and or fouls out. We saw that in the 2000 finals with Kobe, right? When Shack goes out, you know, as he got fouled out, he meets that moment. You can see that with Kyrie, the second star, meets that moment when it's time for him to meet that moment.

Bill, is there some kind of, do you sense that from, do you sense that he can, that Simmons can meet that moment when it does come to it, maybe? Because game five, volunteers of purposes is that moment for him. You got it, you got to close out the series. You have it at home. Does he have that in him, you think? Washington's terrible. I mean, okay. I don't know if that's a big pressure game yet.

You think today, like Washington wins. What was Westbrook? Like three for 18? Three for 19, yes. Three for 19. And it felt to the bitter end like Philly was going to win that game. They couldn't get a call. The officiating was really bizarre.

I thought that was a flagrant on Westbrook at the end. You usually get that call. He definitely, I mean, they've been calling that of flagrant all playoffs. And for some reason they decided not to on that. But look, they're way better. I don't trust Washington at all. I think the crowd really actually helped Washington. I think that's one of the themes of this first round is the younger guys, like Ruhrie Hachamora,

having fans in the building has meant a lot to certain guys. It has definitely helped the Celtics. It's helped anybody that the Knicks you saw it in game two. So I just feel like Philly should wrap it up. Even without Embed to have more talent. Westbrook, to me, is just such a car crash. It's really like, I mean, he, what did he have, 20 rebounds? You look at his box.

21. And it's just like he's doing everything good and bad. He's taking stuff off the table. He's putting stuff back on the table. He's almost lost the ball when they were down, when they're up four, like trying to put the game away. And they called a foul and I think NATO or cork blast. But he's just all over the map. And I just can't see them beating them twice.

It was a quintessential Russell Westbrook game where every, if, If his detractors got what they wanted and everyone that loves him and stands for him got what they wanted. They got the triple double, but they also got the three for 19. It was everything that you think you'd want it to be. But I think Philly wraps that up. But the biggest thing that I feel, and I want to get your opinion on this, Simmons. I have always said that I don't trust Philly, just not for the reason that you laid out. But the three guys there, Doc Rivers, Ben Simmons, and Joelle Embed, have not.

not proven that they can win at that stage yet, right? They're always these good teams. Like, Doc Rivers hasn't proved that he can win at that stage, bro. I'm sorry, it's 08, 08. How long was 08? Wow. But it's, you've done it, but you've done it. It has to be a lifetime?

But how many times, but how many times since then? But how many times has he disappointed since? How many times if his team disappointed since then, Roger, the last time he won a title, Rajah could dunk. I can still jump on nine feet. But you're laying, you're laying teams inability to win champions solely on the coach. Like to say that the man is doesn't show up.

All three of the figures. No, my thing is all three of the figures have. No, but you're alluding. But the royalty. You're alluding to his prior teams, though, saying that he's like he can't step up to the plate in those moments. He's had a rough ride, Roger. He has had a run.

What happened last year when he was head of the? had probably arguably a better team with, with, um, there's a shit show this year, too. That's a shit. That's a shitty mix of people. We talked about it on the, on the pod last time. I'm just saying,

Doc Rivers is one of the better coaches in the NBA. I believe that. But we're talking about the, I believe that. And I truly believe he's an elite coach. But I'm saying that in the past, in the past since 08, there have been some things that have been royally bad.

That's not what you said. That's not what you said. That is what I said. That's not what you said. You said they can't get that done. Their three stars can't get that done at the time. One of them has, in fact, got it done. So if you'd like to augment your statement, I'm cool with sitting back.

Can I be the take, doctor? Can I just tweet? Can I take your take and bring it to the emergency room for a second? Doc has not proven that he can win a title without Tom Tibido as his assistant, you know, as his lead coordinator. Okay. Good. Thank you. Continue.

You're welcome, Logan. At Perk, let me get a perkism. into the show. Carry on. I do love the carry odds with him. So here's the thing. I thought before the playoffs that Milwaukee was going to make it out of the finals because I just went bet my life.

I was like, I don't trust Brooklyn with the Kyrie piece, with the newness of it, rookie coach, our guy Nash, but still a rookie coach. And just a lot of guys sounded been in that situation. I didn't trust Philly because the Embed piece and Simmons. I don't know what to expect from him.

even though I think I have higher esteemed from Milwaukee, somebody's the safest bet. Now where how many were, what are we, eight, nine days into the playoffs? I feel great about Milwaukee. I think this is lined up perfectly for them. I thought they did what they had to do. They got over that Miami hump.

They broke that mental block. And that game one, Rajah, I said on my pot or reminded me of 08 Sun Spurs when at some point it became clear, sorry to bring this up, but at some point during that game, it became clear whoever won that game was probably going to win this series.

Game ones can be weird that way and hockey works like this too where it's like, all right, this is going to be a devastating loss and I don't know if the team that loses rallies back from this.

I think if Milwaukee had lost game one, it was a possible tailspin. They get over the hump. They send Miami packing. I mean, by the end of it, it's, and I don't know.

I just like, I think it's setting really nice for them. I like Milwaukee. I agree with you on that game. Was that 0-7-08? The 0-8 game, Was that when Timmy D hit the three? Is that the game?

That was a back-breaking. It was a back-breaking game. We did not recover. Was that second round? Was that second round? And then they played the Lakers? No, it was first round. First round.

First round. Yeah, sorry. It was totally random where it was like it was the first round series of two of the three best teams, which sometimes that just happens. Yeah. And Duncan never made threes ever, but made this incredibly clutch. And I think he made another shot in that guy. I think he made two clutch.

near the end of the game. Just open the wound, Bill. Just open the wound, bro. It was this first three of the damn year. I'm pretty sure. It was crazy. But that O.A. Sun's team is good. Logan is, I think, in Camp Brooklyn with this one, right?

I'm in Camp Brooklyn. You're in Camp Brooklyn? Yes. I am firmly in Camp Brooklyn. I will say, however, and I'm not hedging my bed at all. I pick Brooklyn to go to the finals. But Milwaukee has shown heart that I did not know that they had. Remember, Roger, I had to publicly

apologized to Chris Bidleton last week. I had to publicly apologize to this Buc's team. I'm not so far to say that they're my finals pick, but I will say that they showed more hard than I thought they would. I do want to get to the Eastern, I mean the Western Conference.

Hold on on the Bucks so quickly. They need a, they need a they need Raja. If you were ever going to come back. Not right now. Dante. Yeah, present Raja. No, Dante out. They need you. You could stand in the corner and make a couple threes.

That's going to be a tough. How many minutes can you give? I can give you approximately a quarter of a minute. Yeah. Could you do the dog? Could you do the... I'll flagrant the hell out of somebody. I got you.

I think they're going to miss him, though. They will. Like, it's all jokes aside. Like, he is, you know, they kind of play that role kind of by committee, but he, he's one of the, you know, he's one of their pieces. He's a, he, I don't, he's not one of the male carrier, so to speak, but he puts in what he can put in. to the effort, you know? I agree with that. He hits endings.

The league is too soft for Raja now. Raja, I'm glad you're not in the league, as we know it now. You would not enjoy yourself. We talked about this a lot, man. We talked about Raja. Just, yeah, with the Instagram and the Twitter, he's already said that he would probably be out of the league because he would tweet all of his emotions immediately after the game.

It would be a new story. It would be all bad. I do want to get to this Utah Memphis matchup. Yeah. I know Utah won and they won conventionally down the stretch. Am I wrong to think that Memphis is ready to be a contender in the next couple of years

if they just make a couple right pieces? Or maybe am I just too in love with this Memphis team for my own good and I'm just too blind, Bill? It depends on Jackson with me. I mean, Jackson's only 21. He's been in the league three years. He seems really talented. We haven't, you know,

this season's almost a throwaway for him, and I don't think he did a lot in the playoffs. Today was probably his best game. It wasn't even that good. But, you know, you need three guys to really seriously compete. They have one. Jackson's maybe the third guy, so who's the second guy? Who's the number two guy? That's what they don't have, and that's really hard to find. If Dylan, if they find, if Dylan Brooks can be your three or four, like if Jaron never really becomes a score, score, right? And Dylan Brooks can be a three, four. Darren some nights, Dylan Brooks some nights, and you come up with the guy you were talking about, Bill.

They could be a few years out, Logan. I wouldn't say next year. You know what I mean? But I wouldn't say next year. Yeah, they could be maybe not two, but like three years out, they could be that. It's a team that they have a lot of pieces. They're four-for-one trade waiting to happen.

I mean, look at the guys who aren't playing for them. They're not playing Winslow. They're not playing Clark. They didn't play Tome in the last three games. And he was one of the heroes in that Warriors game. We haven't seen them since. So they have pieces to do something. I just love how naive they are in a good way,

where they just don't care about the standings of Utah. They don't care about Utah standing in the league. They don't care about anything. I saw this couple weeks back when they were playing against the Warriors. John didn't care about Steph going alongside, opposite of him. He didn't care about that stuff. They just bawled. And I just, I think that's why I love that team and just really embodies the city.

But I could see where you're going. with this. I am in love with the Memphis Grizzlies. We'll see what happens. Utah, though. Utah's the number one seed. I don't know if we call them real or fake. I think I called them fake going into this, but they might be a real team. You called them real. I think I called them fake. But with all the injuries in the Western Conference, they could be a team, right, Roger? They could be a, they could be a factor, obviously. Not could. They are a factor. They were, they're not, what they aren't as a super sexy, you know, star driven team. But they are, they are one of the outlying teams.

We talked about, I think we both said this, even though I said they were a contender. Their lack of star power being their weakness, right? But man, Mike Connolly's phenomenal. Spider Mitchell is great and can get buckets. And you got the sixth man of the year. And so they have, like, they have three. They have three guys that get you buckets. And when they're creating that space, Gobert's rim running.

And you've got O'Neill and and and, but what's what's what's the, the vitch, sorry, forgive me. Who do they have? Yeah, Bogdanovich? Yeah. You know, and you've got the snipers and they all shoot the ball so well. They're a scary team and they defend the hell out of you, man. They had John Moran, John Moran for as good as he was the other night with the 47. I guess he dropped in Utah.

And he wasn't statistically terrible tonight. but he was confused that whole fourth quarter. He didn't know whether shoot, pass. He was second-guessing himself when he got in the lane. None of that was working. They're defensively as good as anyone in the league. Roger, that happened in game three, too. I mean, these games were even with five minutes left,

game three, game four, and they had the crowd. And then Utah has this little switch where they can all of a sudden get 10 straight and get stops on the other end. I thought Conley was really, really good tonight, especially on defense. He was great. I thought he was disruptive.

And you think like when he's doing that at the top of the key and then you have Gobert underneath, it's pretty good. They've also, I know Mitchell was heard obviously, but other than that, they've been pretty healthy, right? And you look around the league and you're just like, who's the healthiest right now? I do feel like that has to factor into when you're thinking who's going to make the finals. Like even Milwaukee's not totally healthy, right? They lost Dante.

Not that he's the most important guy in the world, but their rotation's a little weaker. Now they have to play Forbes and stuff like that. Utah now that Mitchell seems like he's back, they're healthy across the board. You know, Clippers, who knows, with those dudes. I don't know what to, I mean, I don't know what to expect from them mentally or physically. And then Lakers have the AD thing lingering over them.

The suns are already banged up. You go on down the line. It's like Utah's the healthiest. So basically we're going to have a Utah Milwaukee finals is what you're saying, Bill. David's turns crawling out of the grave to stop that. There's no way. Don't get a big market, somebody into there.

Do you think they want Brooklyn in the finals? If you're the league and you can rig this, is Brooklyn the team you want? Absolutely. 100%. Absolutely. Yes. You got Star Power. Obviously, it would be Lakers Nets. If you want to get a finals, it's Lakers Nets with Star Power, with legacy, with all that stuff. You want Lakers Nets.

Does anyone like the Nets? in terms of what? Do you know any Nets fans? Do you know any for the Nets? Have you seen anyone any Clippers fans? I'm pulling for the Nets. I got to pull for the Nets.

Well, you're pulling for Nets. Yeah, yeah. I don't know a ton of Nets fans. I keep it a buck. I know a lot of people in New York. I like their throwbacks this year. That was cool. Logan, the funniest.

Nets Clippers would be the funniest of all time. Combined 5,000 fans. Yeah. Yeah. They would put the tarps in Staples. They would just put the tarps going down. It would be Clipperdale and like Billy Crystal just chilling. That would be it.

It would be just tarps all the way. It'll be tarps of players' selfies on the stable center for that. It would be like the athletics baseball stadium, but it would be the finals. I'm surprised Logan likes Memphis this month because I thought for sure Logan was going to do a whole monologue today about Memphis couldn't carry their weight. This should have been Steph. It would be so much more fun if Steph. was in here and Clay was pacing like an animal on the back. Like he was,

did you see Clay in the playing game? He was pacing back and forth like, like he was like losing his mind. He was like a serial killer. I love it. No, but full transparency, I interned at the commercial appeal in Memphis

and I spent the summer there. I love Memphis. Memphis is a great city. And I love everything about Memphis as a city. And I know the people, they deserve a good team. And I just, it tugged at my heartstrings.

Do either, Do either of you think that Golden State would have given them a better run than what Memphis is given at this point? I think it would have been about the same, honestly. I think it would have been about the same. The Golden State thing, once teams were like, fuck this, Steph, we hear two guys every time you get to half court. Once that started happening, it was kind of. It was like two and a half with three and four coming on. They put their whole team on stuff.

They wouldn't have got a game out of that. They wouldn't have got a game. There's an amazing fork in the road for these playoffs, though, where if Caruso doesn't strip Steph, the two and a half minutes left in that playing game, worries are up three. And Steph's going to score. And he's thinking about scoring. He just got sloppy the ball on Caruso stripped him. But I really feel like Golden State was about to win that game.

Like, they were that close. And then it's Golden State versus the Sons. And then you have Utah Lakers right now. And instead Utah gets to play this Memphis team. next round, they get to play a legitimately goofy Clippers team that I think was about to get swept and then Luca got hurt. No. You got with me on that?

No, no, this, I'm sorry, man. We've been talking about the Clippers and every time we talked about the Clippers. We're going to get to Jemme in a moment talking about, I don't know if you heard this bill, but he took a trip to Palmdale because the Clippers won. He had to take a trip to Palmdale for this. It was, it was wild. But anyway, the Clippers are just. I get frustrated by them every year.

They have so much talent on their roster. They stick their chest out. And then they do shit like they fuck around. They fuck around with their food, man. That's what they do. And I don't like it. They disrespect the game. And I don't like it.

And I want them to do good because they're a talented team. I don't know, man. I don't know. They have the most fake tough guys, Rajah? Um, fake. Who is their tough guy? Who are there? I'm trying to go down their roster right now.

There's a lot of that guys to get super tough when they're up 19. Yeah. I don't know. I'll tell you this. Can I say you this? I don't know if you, if they get through Dallas, which it looks like they're going to get through, they're going to be a tough out for Utah.

I agree, because they go small. Yeah, it'd be a tough out for Utah. I don't know. I don't know, man. Let's get to predictions. You just ruin my night, Simmons. But freaking talking about the Slippers, bro. We weren't doing it.

Clippers was not on the rundown and you just did it. Now my whole night is messed up. Let's go into predictions real quick. Jesus. All right. First prediction, man, for tomorrow night. We have Blazers Nuggets, which has been a low-key compelling series going back. It's just been, we're in Denver right now.

Who we got right now? Let's go. Fuck it. I'm going Dame. I'm going Dame. Fuck it. I'm going Dame. Town business.

Who you got, Roger? I've been wrong at every turn in this series. I'm going to say Denver. I'm going to say the Joker plays better at home. and for no other reason that I don't know shit about the series really. Like, it's just, it's perplexing to me. No, I mean, like, I'm watching the games,

and I don't feel like I really take much away from any of the games. The Denver crowd has not, has historically not been great, and it never feels like a playoff game whenever you go to Denver, and I think that has to go. They're all.

But Sim is in the bay. They're all stoned, and you see the bay all turns up. Better weed in the bay, though. Fair. Who we got, who we got, Simmons? Where are we going in, where are we going with this matchup? This series is a do not gamble series. The only thing that was clear was that it was going to go seven

and game to game, do not gamble on it. And shit's going to happen like we're going to have the Austin Rivers game where it's like, oh yeah, the game that Austin River single-handly won in the fourth quarter, even though we had an MVP and an MVP can't have before. Roger got the nuggets, right? You got the nuggets? I took the nuggets.

He didn't feel good about it, though. I did not. No one feels good about this series, but go ahead, Simmons. The backcourt thing is such an advantage for Portland that it just feels like I have trouble going against them in any of these games because they can get 60 to 70 points from their two guards, and Denver's looking at like 30, unless Austin Rivers has the game of his life, which has already happened.

So I'd probably lean. I feel like Portland wins this one. Denver wins game six and somehow we get a game seven even though both teams have won on the road with the other thing. Portland basically played seven guys in the last game. They've given up on Canter. And Simons is weirdly important for them and I'm not sure he's good. I don't know. It seems like they have five guys they trust. Denver's got like three and a half. So I think it's too hard to predict. Don't gamble on this series. people listening. Young gamblers at home.

Stay away. Concentrate on better bet you can make like the Hawks in Game 5. Yeah. All right. Let's go. This is this. That was just a nasty matchup.

Okay, let's go. Laker's Sons. This has been compelling, man. Like the AD injury, growing injury. He's going to be out for it. He's out game five. Is he out game?

It's just not looking good, but it's like the reports are starting to come out that it's probably not going to be, he's not going to play or it's not looking good. It's one of those reports are starting to come out yet. If you have a groin injury that doesn't allow you to go back into a game yesterday,

you're not able to play tomorrow. I don't think he's going to be able to. That's the way that goes. Or you should, if you can play tomorrow, you should have had your ass back in the game yesterday. That's the way that works. Roger Bell has a thing with AD.

He's just, yeah. No, but I'm saying, the nature of groin injuries, they don't heal like that. Like, they don't just heal. If you pull that groin to a point where, like, it's really catching. It's catching and you can't, yeah, you can't get back out there on that. Not tomorrow. So who you got?

We're not talking about Cal Ripkin here either. Who you got, Roger? What we got? This is your series. This is your series, Roger. I'm taking the sons in this, baby. No AD? Okay.

Yeah, I'm taking the sons all day. You know what I'm going to do? You know what I'm going to do? Fuck this. I'm taking a historic LeBron game, Lakers and Lakers. I'm going to Lakers right here. One of those games that LeBron is just going to bring one out of his ass. I got LeBron and Lakers won in game five.

Simmons, who you got? I have one of the best predictions. ever made on this show, even though it's the first time you've invited me. I think the sons crush them in game five. And I think LeBron is weirdly passive. I think it's one of those. We get a passive LeBron game? It's kind of a, I want to see what I have with these other guys game because he kind of

knows he's going to throw it away because he's saving his shits for game six, game seven. Not just because it's the better play because he's kind of. waiting it out to see if Davis can potentially come back for seven. Better narrative. I think LeBron's all about the narratives now. Better narrative. Down three, two, wins the last two, win six, win seven in Phoenix. The calculating.

I think he's a narrative guy. He's a Hollywood guy now. I just think it's a smarter move for him. You know what he could do? He could do what Kobe did in a game seven and winning Phoenix. Don't think he has a thought about that. Hey, hey, Roger. Hey, man, I'm locked in on the series, bro.

because every son's Lakers series of my life is like every son's Lakers series of my life. It doesn't matter. The stakes are always there. I love this matchup, man. I love this matchup. We were talking about LeBron does this. He's done this thing during the playoffs. I think he just has calculated because he's got that crazy hoops IQ.

I think he's just calculated how much he has to exert in four rounds, right? So you watch his games and he just, he won't. He's not playing. I don't want to say he's not playing hard, but he's picking his spots for a half. And then you see he flips the switch when he wants him for his second half. The game the other day, he waited until basically the fourth quarter. And then he flipped the switch. He'll flip the switch.

I don't know if he's going to waste it in game five without AD. Maybe he comes out, starts making threes early, and then he'll ride it and try to score 50s, something like that. But I think he'll feel it out. He'll try to get other dudes involved and hope that the Kuzma Schrooter, Gassal types carry them, and then he'll flip the switch in the fourth if they're close. That's interesting. You saw that a lot in the bubble, though.

You saw that a lot in the bubble in game ones with LeBron and where you're like, what's going on here? Like, what are we doing? And that was one of the things. And then he would just turn it on for the rest of the series? Remember the Warriors game? Remember halftime? People are like, is he hurt?

What's wrong? Is he hurt? Yeah. Is his ankle bad? What happened? And then game third quarter, boom. He was LeBron again. He fucking hit a three in Steph's face.

Like, it was ridiculous. Now, next game, final game. Nets Celtics, I think we all picked the nets to win. I don't know, Simmons, do you have the Celtics winning this game? I don't know. Do you have this? I just can't believe the Celtics didn't get swept. The nets are 20 to 30 points better than them every game. There's no scenario where the Celtics with the roster they have should be within 20 of them ever. It took Friday night, it took Tateham playing the best game of his entire life and a complete no-show from Kyrie. And they still barely won. They won in the last minute.

even with those two variables, the greatest game of Tatum's life, they still barely won. I don't think they can come within 20 of this Nets team. We played Ojaleigh, Jabari, and Grant Williams all at the same time for five minutes in the second quarter of game four. We're not winning game five.

Okay. So what are the, so that goes to my next question. Now, you already, we already knew the Nets are going to win. We already picked them. What's next for Boston, man?

What's going on? Like, it's a weird thing. It's like, are you guys tied? Will you guys be title contenders? You guys are in this purgatory right now. What do you guys do? What's next for Boston? There's some might have missed a window potential that I'm trying to not to think about.

Made three conference finals in four years, Rajah. Yeah, no, it's been a good run. It just never reached the top. Like, you never got to the penthouse. Yeah. A little buffalo bills run there. Not even. It's like a poor man's buffalo Eagles.

Oh. No, it's a Philadelphia Eagles is what it is. The poor man's told off eagles. Do you like Tatum and Brown together, Bill? I do. I think Brown's too important on and off the court. To me, he's untouchable, and I think Tatum's obviously untouchable, and you just got to figure out who the rest of the team is around those guys.

The Kemba thing is a catastrophe. Riesel and I laid it out yesterday. He's on the books next two years for 36 and 37. He's never played in a Celtics uniform the way he played in Charlotte, right? No. I mean, there was not even like not even real for real stretches of time. They paid for a guy coming off a career year who really hasn't been healthy since. And this is kind of the rub with the Knicks, too, right?

Where they could potentially give Randall a giant extension off a career year or just have them played out for $20.75 million and like, hey, let's make sure you're really good before we give you all this money. I wouldn't give him $140 million for four years or anything like that based on how easily Atlanta shut him down. I'm not paying him 35 million a year. Raj is agreeing with me, it looks like. 100%.

And I love watching him play in the story that it was this year, but don't do that. If you're the Knicks, don't do that. Don't do that. Logan, Logan would pay him. Logan's seen enough. Logan's got his checkbook out. Are we talking about Randall? Randall?

I love Randall. I love Randall. He was a Laker. I love him. He was a part of that baby Laker team. But, you know, I'm happy to see him get his bag somewhere else. I'm happy for that. Shout out to him.

Shout out to him. Go to the bag. Go to the bag. It's claim. All right, man. Simmons, it was great to have you on tonight, man. You know,

you're welcome anytime for your second and third and fourth and fifth time. You know what it is. What's up? What's up? Wait, I had a last question for Raja. Okay. Did Marcus Smart lose his title to Dylan Brooks for you?

No. Mm-hmm. Because I know you love Dylan Brooks. He does a lot of things that you like. I do love. specifically like... I do. I do love Dylan Brooks.

I feel like Dylan Brooks might be just maybe too good of a score to fall into that role that we're talking about. He might be overqualified for the award. The Razabelle Memorial Player Award? Just like the guy who's just in it, who's annoying, who's doing stuff, who's up to things, who's just never lets up, makes a couple big shots, always has four to five fouls.

Dillon might get burned, might get burned, like, they have like the camera on him, like after Steph does something. Yeah, he falls out of a game. Yeah, but they don't care. But he's fine. Yeah, he's fine. You don't give a shit.

He's on the next play. Yeah. Yeah, he just won't fit in that box, Bill. Like, I want to put him in the box. Marcus Smart comes out of the box from time to time too, but Dylan Brooks is out here acting. He's after 27 a game in that series. Right.

All right. So it's Bruce Brown then. Bruce Brown is your guy. Bruce Brown is my eye. I like Bruce Brown. Yeah. Yeah. Boston kids.

University of Miami. Yeah, that's my guy. A couple layups. Somebody's getting double-teamed. All of a sudden, he's sneaking through for a layup. Yeah, yeah. A couple years got a three-ball. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's it. He's in a box. That's his guy, Logan. We have our answer. Dylan Brooks, I'm sorry. It's a great resume. It was too good of a resume. Too good overqualified, bud.

All right. It was good to see you guys. Later, Bill. And we are back. Rajah, I want to talk to you. about something that we've kind of alluded to over the postseason, but it's just kind of reached a freaking fever pitch right now. Fan behavior at NBA games.

It's just utterly ridiculous. Today we had, or tonight, we had a fan rush to court in Washington to try to touch the back of a backboard. That was tame compared to everything else that happened this weekend. In game three of the Wizard Sixers series, Russell Westbrook went to go get his ankle taped or something like he got he went to go get his ankle

reevaluate the throw popcorn on the man right a few nights later it was game two excuse me it was game two and then a few days later Kyrie makes his return to Boston after he said I don't want anything to happen please don't let anything happen to me I just want to play basketball please don't let anything happen to you I'm begging right

he just said I just want a hoop I just want a hoop I just won a hoop and made this discourse about from Boston people from Boston and like Boston fans, we're not racist, we're not all these things. And the very next game,

Kyrie gets an object thrown at him after they win and he gets, after he's walking off the court, he gets an object thrown at him by a fan with a Boston jersey on. And then the rhetoric was he, he shouldn't have gotten the stuff thrown at him.

but he also should have stepped on a leprechaun at mid-court the way he did. What is going on right now, Roger? Like, what is going on? It's clearly some kind of COVID fog. Everyone's coming out of the house and people just don't know how to act, right? Like, we're all excited to be out. You know, I'm excited to be out. Logan, my kids are excited to be out.

Everybody's excited to be out. People didn't just lost their mind, man. I have to chalk it up to that because there's no, I mean, there have been instances before of silly stuff happening, but not like this condensed where it's happening, you know, every couple of games and people are bugging out. You know,

I, it's silly, I know, but you got to whoop somebody's ass them. Somebody got to get an ass with him sometimes. It's what has to happen, bro. I tell my kids this shit sometimes, too, man. Like,

there's the one come of time that you just got to whoop somebody's ass. And you might get in trouble for that shit. you might but you have to whoop his ass and that's what the NBA metaphorically speaking

has to whip some ass because people are just too bold right now so one of them has to have their ass whoop it's really funny though right because if you go back

to the coverage of players fighting fans it's the malice in the palace right and how it was covered then versus how it would be covered now I think would be two different ways how it was covered then

by and large and you can correct me if I'm wrong, because you were in the league when that happened. Thugs. Thugs. It's the player's fault. Why would they do this? Why would they punch fans?

Oh, the fans are getting all in the stands. Oh, this is a disgrace. Oh, my goodness. In hindsight, because this is actually happening. The same things are happening, right? Like, the malice in the palace started because a fan threw an object at Ron Artez. That man threw a cup of ice. It was a cup of ice, right?

At Ron Artes. It threw something at Ron Artes. Not only did that happen, there were fans throwing chairs and objects that players throughout that whole time, right? And it started out because he was showing restraint on that one. Ron our test at the first time was showing restraint. And right now, we're seeing that like, no, no, the players weren't necessarily wrong in this instance. They were fighting. They were fighting for, in their minds, their lives in a lot of ways.

You don't know what was going to happen that night. when they, Rod our tests get something thrown at him, he goes up in the stand and lights. That happens. That's what happened. These guys right now are showing restraint in a lot of ways where I'm like,

bro, I don't know if I could have shown that kind of restraint. Like you see when Russell Westbrook gets the popcorn thrown at him, it takes every bit of him, Russell Westbro not to do anything. And rightly so, and this isn't the first time that Russell has had these types of interactions with fans, and we've seen this. What does there have to,

What is the solution that there has to be? And what have you, before we get to the solution, what has it been the difference in coverage you've seen right now versus what you've seen in coverage back then? First, let me go back to the Ron Ortiz thing real quick. If you'll indulge me, let me go back. Got you, yep. When Ron got hit by the cup,

and Ron went into a stance, Ron should not have went into those stands. He shouldn't have won into those stands. Having said that, if I was sitting on that scorers table, mind, in my business trying to cool down and you threw some shit at me, there's a high likelihood that I would have went into the stance

and suffered pretty much the same fate, right? Because I would have lost my shit in that moment. You hit me with some shit and it's on. Now, every other player in that scrum for the most part when Ron is now fighting, like, to your point for his life, because people are, I don't, I mean, you're in a fight. That's a brawl. Fans are on the court.

They're rushing. There should be no ramifications for you knocking somebody out. This man is down here on the court, on your, you know, in your place of business, rushing at you, you're supposed to lay his ass down. But Ron shouldn't have one in the stands. All right, so let me get to...

He shouldn't have. He should not have have, but we understand. He should not have done that. But go ahead. But I'm telling you, I would have probably went up there too. Like, you threw some shit at me, man. Like, you hit me with a cup. Like, I'm, it's on. Bro, here's one thing. Here's one thing. I want to get to your point. If you were to do that to somebody on

the street, they have a license to fuck you up. If you were to just do something like that on the street to anybody, if you were to just like spit in someone's face, throw popcorn in a random person's face. Where do you get the audacity to do that? Yeah. Again, again, we live, we live, I think I talked about this last time, the world that we live in now, where it's just, I mean, you've got the Twitter fingers, you got the keyboard, you know, you got all, there, you don't have to see people face to face a lot,

you know? And so you get this boldness to you and, and you, you don't know what it feels like. There's a generation of people. They're a generation of kids that don't know what it feels like to get whoop, Logan. Do you know what I'm saying, though? Like, you know, there are a generation of kids

that don't know what it feels like to get a hand put on their bottom when they fuck up. And bigger picture, there's a generation of kids out here. They don't really get out here with hands no more. Like, there's, you know,

tragically, it's a lot more weapons being used and stuff, but people don't know what it feels like, you know, to get socked in the eye because you said the wrong shit to the wrong person. So these are the people you're seeing out there. They don't know. You asked me, could they do it on the street?

They don't know the difference because they ain't never had that interaction with someone. You know what I mean? Yeah. You know, we were talking to like, you know, C.C. Sabathia last week and just people just talking about him on the street. It's like, bro, you don't know me. And then we play a game.

Relax. You know, we're playing a game here, bro. Like, and even the fallout of that mouth, and the palace thing. And it's just because a fan threw something and players made pretty much what you'd expect a player to make if somebody throws something at them, the reaction, you know, them being in the zone the way they are,

if you throw something that's going to, that might set off some triggers. The fallout from that, you're talking about a whole stress code. You're talking about like just all these punishments for the players off of something that like if it happened in real life, you would understand the repercussions of that. I just, I would just say, listen to, when your players are telling you

they're getting disrespected, listen to them. Because they've been saying that for years. They've been saying this for years, please police this, please help us out. Please do something about it. And as we see, it's not, it's not changed, it's not stopping the fans from acting this way. Listen, man, I had a fan,

I had a fan. We were in Seattle. We came out of timeout. I mean, sorry, we came out for a halftime. And, you know, we were doing something. I was talking to somebody. And I turned around. And there was a fan.

I'm on the court now. Like, you know, I don't know, three point lines somewhere doing what I got to do. And there's a fan standing right next to me, like right in my face. Talking. Now, luckily for me, that fan wasn't there for any kind of, you know, he wasn't there to do me any harm. He was just wanted to come out and talk. But he had slipped through the cracks of all security, all everything,

and there he stood on the court. What if I, you know, what if he was out there to fuck me up, Logan? How, you know what I, that is my workplace. I'm supposed to feel safe and secure in that. And I know that's, you know, that's taking this probably out of proportion a bit, but that's what you're talking about, right? This is where I work. You know, this is, this is right.

If somebody have an office job and someone was fucking with you and, like, hitting you and putting soda on your head and stuff like that, to file a complaint with HR and that person gets fired. That person gets fired, yeah. So, I mean, what the league has to do, and we talked about, I mean, the league has to do what happened to the young and in Boston, who from all accounts has been arrested, right? And they're pressing charges against him.

And I think another one of his buddies that was there doing the dumb stuff with them, that's what has to take place in these instances, man. They cannot come back. I love Cici's idea about, you know, whatever market they live in, Don't let him in any of the arenas or stadiums. Like put together your little list. Like he's banned from all sporting events. No fly zone. No, all of them.

Collegiate, like all NCAA shit, pro shit. He can't come to any of them because, you know, there should be a contract that you was a fan, you know, or. You can do all this stuff. You can boo. You can boo. That's fine. That's fine. Dude, you can call me out of my name.

Like, you could say what you want. Like, you know, you call me all you suck. You be this. And like, bro, do what you do. You know, you start yelling racist shit at me or you start, like, hitting me with shit. Then those are lines that you should not cross his fans. 100%. I got everything I got out on this.

So do you got any more of any final words for what should be done? No, I look here. It's a small, small, like, fraction of fans. Most fans are good fans, passionate fans. So this isn't like an anti-fan thing. And I do appreciate that the fans in the building, Logan, are now checking or at least trying to hold the idiots that are doing it around them accountable for it. You know what I mean? But just tighten up, man.

Like, cut the shit. Yeah. Cut the shit, man. All right. Jemmy bring your ass. We ready to roll. We're back from the P. We're back from where?

From the Pee. Palm, we're back from the Dale. All right. We are back from the Dale. Let's paint this picture. We have Jemmy here. Now, Jemmy, last time he was on here, we made a bet that if the Clippers win, we didn't even have an alternative to this. We just said if the Clippers win, he got to take a trip to Palmdale.

Now, there may or may not be some footage about this trip that he took from wherever he is in Los Angeles area to Palmdale. If you want to find the footage, hashtag, release the tapes. Release the Palmdale cut. At least the Palmdale cut. Jomey, you are back in Paradise. How, pay me to a picture on this one, man, because we saw or we may or may not have saw the video that may or may not exist. Tell us about your journey through your own words.

Well, let me actually, let's take it back to Friday night, right? We made the bet. We said if the Clippers win game three, I got to go out to Palmdale, right? And so I'm looking at, you know, the first quarter of game three and the Mavs are up 19 and I'm feeling great. Oh, man. I'm like, it's my time. You know, I'm going to wake up on Saturday. I'm going to go for a walk, you know, maybe get some pancakes.

Just enjoy. Enjoy my day. You know what kind of pancakes are you going to get, Jemmy? What kind of pancakes are you doing? You know, just some regular old buttermil pancakes or some maple syrup. You know what I mean? Some extra butter on top. You know, just real simple.

You know, I like the simple things. And then, you know, Chris Tass Porzinger's turned into, you know, European Jillio O'Kifor. And I was out of luck, right? You said, and I quote, white Jesus will help us get over the top. I was root. Luke and K.P. I was praying, I was praying with white Jesus. Like, for Luke and K.P.

Let's get this dough. And they let me down. Okay. Let me down. So I'm a mad of my word. I got up when I took myself out to the pee to Palmdale. It was, first of all, traffic. How was the traffic?

Was it good? Traffic sucked. It was cheeks. You know? What time did you leave? I left early. It was like maybe like 10 or so and I got there like around a, to like noon, 1230. Here's the thing, though.

This was wild. We did all this conversation about, you know, freeways, right? Remember the 91? Da-da-da. I had to take the 100, I had to take the 405 to the 5. I saw the 405 end. I went all the way to the end of the 405. Insanity.

Palmdale is in the middle of nowhere, right? I reached the end of the 405, then got to the 5, and then got to the 14, which is a freeway that exists. right and it's just oh and they just dust and in rocks for miles for miles but i made it but i was there i i i set foot in palm dale city square so i honored my end of the bargain hmm palm dale bob dale jo me uh so i mean i don't i don't know what to say about that bro i just you know what i do appreciate the fact that that unsolicited like you got up and you handled your business, bro.

Like, that is a real one. On a show where we are, that's a real one shit. And I do appreciate that. I want to, I want to go to a part of the video that may or may not exist. It's honestly like the LeBron James Nike camp video of him getting ducked on. It may or may not exist. It may have been compensated. That's a deep cut.

That's a deep cut. But there was a part in the video where you're interviewing Palmdale residents. and someone walks off. How was that experience? Did Palmdale residents actually want to be in Palmdale from your thing? And what was the best part about Palmdale

and the worst part about Palmdale? The interesting thing about the interview was, so I don't know if many of the listeners are outside, hopefully they're outside. It was a, it was, Kinsignera was going on. Like, they were taking photos for Kisiena. You know what I'm saying? And so, like,

They've got like this. It was like, let me, let me like, let's be honest, right? It was a beautiful, it was a little beautiful little area they had over there. They had a gazebo. A little courtyardish. Yeah, had a fountain. It was, I was like, hey, so everybody was taking photos. So I pulled off a couple of homies.

It was like, hey, you know, you want to talk about Palmdale first? I'm like, yeah. Y'all like basketball? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll talk Palmdale and basketball. And then I started, you know, with the Palmdale question. He was like, hey, listen, I'm just, I mean, he didn't say this, but you can see by the way he turns his head and walks on. as I'm like addressing him that he wants no business.

I'm tired of Palmdale. I'm tired of talking about Palmdale. I'm tired of being here. I would have literally rather be anywhere else. So I mean, you know, it was tough, but, you know, hey, I would feel the same way if I lived in Palmdale to you, know what I'm saying? Palmdale, Palmdale.

Okay, now the best part about Palmdale. It looked like the plate. The plate looked like the plate. You want to shout out that place? Do you want to shout out that place? Because that was a perfect place. That was a nice place. You should shout out that place out.

I think that they deserve it. Shout out to my boy, Keith. El Torio West. El Torio West. He gave me the recommendation from his sister-in-law. I was like, let me slide through. The fish tacos were pretty good, too. And, you know, the carne and sourne and fries hit.

So I'd probably say. Final question. Good time. Will you ever go to Palmdale again in your life? Absolutely not. Never again. I will say this, though. Shout out.

I want to give a shout out to the Clippers, man. I came on here and I was talking all that smack after they went down 02. And then they woke up and won two in a row in Dallas. You know what I'm saying? Meanwhile, Anthony Davis is hurt and the Lakers are in flux right now.

So is it the curse of Jomey? I don't think that's true because we won the title last year. But here's what I will say. Anthony Davis is probably not going to play rest of this series, right? You know, we heard it earlier in the show, Roger talking about groin injuries don't just go away after two days. If he didn't show up in game four,

it's probably not going to be in game five. I saw a tweet today. I said, like, it's a grade one strain. Those take seven to ten days to heal. The series is over on Saturday. So, I know LeBron is an avid listener of the show. LeBron listens to every episode.

You know, he's a big Roger Bell fan. Oh, word. Okay. And, you know, I know that. You know, I've got my connections. I know that. Clutch Jomey? Clutch Jomey?

I know if you're listening. Yeah, I'm on the payroll. What's up? Okay. LeBron, I know you're listening. I need 44 minutes from you on, on, I need 44 minutes from you tomorrow. I need 44. I'm sorry.

The Lakers are like, LeBron is sat for like 30-something minutes in this series. The Lakers are minus 45 or something like that. Shout out of Yovam Bahab for out here, out here giving us the knowledge. You see it. You see it. From the athletic are bad in non-Lebron minutes. So we're going to need some big minutes from you, Bron,

but hey, I know you're a fan. You know, hey, we'll come on. We need big minutes from cardiac coos, too. We need big minutes from cardiac coups. I mean, look, he's not shooting the ball well, but nobody is really. So I know he's catching a lot of slander because, you know, he's Kyle Coosma.

But he's, you know, he's playing. Here's the thing about the Liggers. I don't, you know, they're playing great defensively. They can't put the ball into, hoop. Well, you got a remedy for that. T.H.T. Oh, oh, yeah. Yeah. We got a remedy for that. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on.

Hold on. Wait, wait, listen. Listen. Listen. See, it's a Frank Vogel thing. It's a Frank Vogel mind game. You know what I'm saying? He knows what he, if you put too much T.HT on tape, right? Then the next series, you know what I'm exactly. Exactly. The next series. But if you don't put THT in the series, you might not see that, you might not see the Nets if you don't put T.HT. No, no, no. See, it's a long game.

You know how they held out Donovan Mitchell with the ankle in game one? Because, like, oh, we should beat the Jazz. We should be Memphis. You know what I'm saying? That's what it is. Like, we're going to keep him. He's a secret weapon. All right.

If you get enough tape on him, you know what I'm saying? You find the sets, you know? So it's a smart play by Frank Vogel. I've always said, Frank Vogel, smartest coach in the league. You know what I'm saying? So trust the process. Okay. All right.

Jomey, we gave Simmons a chance to predict this series. series. Who's winning game five tomorrow night before we get out of here? Let's, I just want to preface this by saying, I've been a Laker fan my entire life. Oh, shit. I don't remember a time. I don't remember a time when I didn't root for the Lakers. And I don't remember a time when I didn't believe that they were going to win a game. So it will surprise you to tell, to, to, to say that I think LeBron James, Mark Gossau. Talented Horton Tucker and the Lakers

are taking game five. Yeah, game five. Wait, wait, is this Lakers? We believe 2.0. We believe. Right? They doubted us. We couldn't do it.

Bubble, they called us bubble frauds. They said we didn't have what it takes outside of the bubble. They said, LeBron James, he is washed. You know, they're calling them A Disney, Lake Mickey, all right? We're going to prove the doubters wrong in game five. I got the Lakers.

right? I don't know by double digit. It's probably going to be a close game. Chris Ball's shoulders probably feeling better, good for him. But yeah, I got the Lakers out here. The Lakers are undefeated after a loss in the playoffs since LeBron got there. I'm rolling with that. I'm rolling on that. They're going to get it done.

All right, man. That's been another edition of the Real On the Ringer NBA feed. Hashtag release the Palmdale cut. Hashtag release the Palmdale cut. Jomey once again is 2012 James Hardin And whenever he comes on the pods, six men of the year every single time. All right.

Now, we will see you Thursday. And also, you can check out all of our pods on the Ringer NBA feed. That is group chat. That is the answer. Also, check out Mismatch. Also, check out R2C2 with who, Rajabelle. Ballio legend, friend of the show, C.C. Sabatia. And you can check out Black Girl Songbook, which is on hiatus with who, Rajabelle.

Man, another friend of the show. Town legend. How y'all say Town Biz? Daniel Smith? Yes, sir. Check out the Ringerverse. You can also catch Jomey on that with Charles Holm and also Van Lathes. Also Van Lathen.

Also Mallory Rubin. Also check out the Ringer Music Show with Charles Holmes. We will see you guys on Thursday. We got a special. We might have something in the works for you there. We might have something in the works. Spicy. I'm just saying, you don't want to miss Thursday's show.

Holla, peace.